Privacy is the most valued of all rights recognised by all civilised Nations. There is always a need for more & more of privacy & at the same time there is ever increasing threat to one's privacy with the technological advances. What is important is a need to strike abalance betwwn the need of privacy and need of its revelation. More and more safeguards are needed to protect one's privacy whether at home, in office , at workplace or elsewhere. Privacy is a zero relationship where one can say to another that " it's none of your business".
Law is needed to safeguard privacy. The major instrumentalities of threat to privacy can be either by Press and/or the Government. The Press in the garb of investigative journalism is a bigthreat to retention of privacy by the individual. This is the sphere of the individual where he has a right to be let alone. Instances of Governmental invasion of privacy are increasing day by day whether it is telephone tapping or any unauthorised intrusion into privacy.
Right to privacy has not been defined mostly in the Constitutions of the world but it is derived from other enumerated rights in the Constitutions as a penumbera . The Un legislations also have recognised the due place of privacy in its varios enactments like UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF CIVIL & POLITICAL RIGHTS. More and more concern has been felt about the need of privacy of home, communications, searches & sizures etc.
Law of privacy has developed through case to case basis. Right from the famous " Warren & Brandeis Article in 1890". law has developed by leaps and bounds. More and more spheres like Banking, Insurance , storage of Data & other matters relating to private life such as marriage , abortion decisions have come to be recognised as validly covered under privacy category. All these matters have been left to the individual without any interference of the State.Intimate decisions like right to survive with support systems & even to termination of life with the consent of the patient or his relatives have assumed significance. Euthanesia whether passive or active has become topics of the day & privacy issues have started revolving round the intimate decisions of the individuals in every wlk of life. Courts have given this issue an equal importance & have not allowed the individuals' privacy to be taken away so easily. Common law torts have been recognised while awarding compensations wherever there is invvasion of privacy.